Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, image capturing apparatuses, and image processing methods.
Description of the Related Art
An image generated by an image capturing apparatus such as a digital camera may in some cases contain a defective pixel resulting from characteristics of an image sensor. Since a defective pixel causes deterioration of image quality, conventionally, the defective pixel has been corrected using information of peripheral pixels. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-278394 discloses a technique for selecting peripheral pixels that are to be used in correction based on whether or not a defective pixel to be corrected is included in a defective pixel group.
Although there are cases where another defective pixel is present at the periphery of the defective pixel to be corrected, it is not always known beforehand whether or not such another defective pixel is present. For this reason, the defective pixel to be corrected is in some cases corrected using peripheral pixels including the other defective pixel. In such cases, the correction accuracy decreases, which may possibly lead to deterioration of image quality of the corrected image that is ultimately obtained.